# Is repeating 'that' in a sentence correct? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 29, 2001, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-repeating-that-in-a-sentence-correct/63699 "2001-04-29T03:53:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2001, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-repeating-that-in-a-sentence-correct/63699/21 "2001-04-30T02:59:12Z")
**handy** , try daß. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![upperdeckfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/65b543/32.png) [@upperdeckfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/upperdeckfan)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2001, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-repeating-that-in-a-sentence-correct/63699/22 "2001-04-30T03:39:12Z")
## quote: How did you know that that was what I was reading? The first that, or that that that is the defining, or restrictive pronoun in the sentence can probably be removed like that. Or, you can replace both thats with a which, which would require you to define that. Which that? That that. Not that that, but that that in the that that that was removed earlier and replaced by that which, which is better suited for that than that. (ex) How did you know which book I was reading? ---
**Author:** ![curwin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@curwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curwin)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2001, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-repeating-that-in-a-sentence-correct/63699/23 "2001-04-30T06:19:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by handy \* > \*\*[http://www.google.com/](http://www.google.com/) cant find me anything about this…Hmmmmm maybe its cause they consider ‘that’ as a non-word? \*\* Here’s a helpful trick: Add a plus sign before commonly used words in Google so the search engine will be forced to add them to the search. I did a search on Google for “+that +that” and came up with some helpful links: [http://www.rightwords.co.nz/trwmay96.html#he\_said](http://www.rightwords.co.nz/trwmay96.html#he_said) [http://www.bartleby.com/81/16383.html](http://www.bartleby.com/81/16383.html) [http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q167/6/55.asp](http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q167/6/55.asp) ---
**Author:** ![El\_Zagna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@El\_Zagna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Zagna)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2001, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-repeating-that-in-a-sentence-correct/63699/24 "2001-04-30T13:57:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SmackFu \* > \*\*I’m thinking of a sentence like this: > > > [@](#): > > > > How did you know that that was what I was reading? > > This situation seems like the only place in English where you can use a word twice in a row without any quotes or commas or any other fancy things. Which makes me think maybe it’s not a correct construct, and is banned by some obscure rule. Any ideas? Or any other examples of repeated words? \*\* How about " I don’t know if I want to do that, but if I **do do** that then… whatever." ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2001, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-repeating-that-in-a-sentence-correct/63699/25 "2001-04-30T14:16:00Z")
But if you do do that that you describe, what happens? (Probably should be “that which”, but what the heck…) ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2001, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-repeating-that-in-a-sentence-correct/63699/26 "2001-04-30T15:08:55Z")
curwin, I use quotes (")s with that search engine with a lot of success. I started with that 8 times, & gave up at three 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2001, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-repeating-that-in-a-sentence-correct/63699/27 "2001-04-30T15:19:31Z")
“Doo doo” is the one to avoid. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-repeating-that-in-a-sentence-correct/63699.md?page=1)